Dracula Dreams

Keep your candy hearts and your pink ribbons. For my money, the season of love is Halloween.

Raised by parents who bore the stiff upper lip of the English and the iron spine of the Germans, my siblings and I learned to be uncomfortable with public displays of affection from an early age. Rather than hugs and kisses at bedtime, we traded firm handshakes with our Mom and Dad. When they felt especially lighthearted, they’d treat us to a game of Hot Hands, holding their palms flat over ours and tantalizing us during long moments of stillness before snaking their hands over ours in a lightning strike to slap us hard across the knuckles.

Good times.

Really.

There was only one time when we felt comfortable cuddling next to our parents, and that was when we watched scary movies on a Friday night. Vincent Price movies, Night Stalker episodes, and everyone’s favorite: vampire movies. Mom would shake a pan of popcorn over the burner, drip melted butter over each of our bowls, and sit with us on the couch. Curling up against her side so I could press my face against her shoulder whenever Dracula tapped against the window gave me a sense of security and love that transcended words.

I clung to my affection for horror films through my teen years, always rooting for the vampire to win the eternal devotion of his female prey. Chris Sarandon advancing eerily across the dance floor in Fright Night, catching the eye of his next teenage victim with a sly smile playing across his lips…who could return to an adolescent love affair after that? Lestat in the Anne Rice chronicles–don’t even get me started. Eternal damnation seemed a small price to pay for a moment of his undivided, bloody attention.

I couldn’t wait for my children to be old enough to see some of these films I’d loved. Not surprisingly, they laughed at the campiness of films that had once scared me to death, preferring the kind of jerky photography and editing of The Grudge that I found silly. So I was thrilled when my youngest son agreed to listen to an audio version of Bram Stoker’s Dracula on our trip across Pennsylvania to drop him off in New York for his freshman year of college.

My husband listened skeptically as Stoker, through a long series of letters, told the tale of an unwitting young solicitor who fails to flee at the first sight of his sharp-toothed, red-lipped, bloodless client in the remote hills of Transylvania. (“The gypsy warned you to stay away from the mansion! The wolves circled your carriage and howled at midnight! Can’t you take a hint?”) By the time Count Dracula moved on to the white cliffs of England and beat his bat wings against Lucy Westenra’s window at midnight, my son and I were sucked into the novel.

Driving under the arches at the entrance of the college, we had to turn off the story just as Lucy’s blood was drained from her body for the first time. Soon we were distracted by the details of moving our youngest son into his new home.

Hours later, as evening darkened the sky and bats flitted through the trees above my son’s dormitory, I swallowed my tears and hugged my son. (Sometimes a hand shake is just not enough.) “See you in two months.”

He hugged me hard. “Save the rest of Dracula for when you come back to get me.”

Your post hit home with me. I shared the same moments with my parents. My mother wasn’t very affectionate either but when the scary movies came on, we all cuddled on the couch under a blanket. A tradition I carried on with my son.

Oh, I loved the ending to your story – “save the rest for the ride home” – that’s awesome! I too had the 15 hours of driving to drop off my college freshman this fall, but we listened to music and talked – but I wouldn’t exchange those hours for anything. Thanks for sharing!

What a fascinating post! I was enthralled by Dracula when I first read it, and still find it hard to think about vampires in romantic terms, although some authors manage it well. I think hugs and displays of affection are so important, I’m glad your son gave you that hug before you had to leave him at College! Oh – and good luck with your forthcoming release!

Yes, old Bram’s original Dracula was not exactly a romantic hero. So glad to hear from someone who’s read the novel. It’s become a bit of obsession with us; we even play a very complicated board game inspired by the book! Thanks for your response, Hywela!

Funny you say that–my stepdaughter and her friends watched Nightmare on Elm Street and she said they spent most of the movie laughing at the high-waisted jeans. (That was when low-rise jeans were the ONLY thing to wear–a couple of years ago.)

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Ever the black sheep of her adoptive family, Lee Cooper has finally buckled down to a responsible job as a social worker in Southwest Florida. Defending her client against charges of child abuse awakens buried memories of her own abandonment in a Korean orphanage. Can she remain objective for the sake of a child? Bricker Kilbourn, the court-appointed guardian, doubts Lee’s judgments--and his opinion might determine the little boy’s fate. He's got his own family issues and haunting secrets to keep. Falling for a woman is not part of his plan. He’s running from his past. She’s searching for answers. Will their resolution to protect a child bind them together or wrench them apart?